Amber alert

An Amber Alert (alternatively styled AMBER alert) or a child abduction emergency alert (SAME code: CAE) is a message distributed by a child abduction alert system to ask the public for help in finding abducted children.

The system originated in the United States of America.

Amber Rene Hagerman (November 25, 1986 – January 15, 1996) was a nine-year-old girl abducted while riding her bike in Arlington, Texas.

Her younger brother, Ricky, had gone home without her because Amber had wanted to stay in the parking lot for a while.

When he returned with his grandfather, they only found her bicycle.

A neighbor who had witnessed the abduction called 911.

On hearing the news, Hagerman's father, Richard, called Marc Klaas, whose daughter, Polly, had been kidnapped and murdered in Petaluma, California, in 1993 and Amber's mother, Donna Whitson (now Donna Williams), called the news media and the FBI.

They and their neighbors began searching for Amber.

Four days after her abduction, near midnight, a man walking his dog discovered Amber's naked body in a creek behind an apartment complex with severe laceration wounds to her neck.

The site of the discovery was less than five miles (8 km) from where she was abducted.

Her murder remains unsolved.

The Amber alert was created in reference to Amber Rene Hagerman, who was abducted and later found murdered in 1996.

Alternative regional alert names were once used; in Georgia, "Levi's Call" (in memory of Levi Frady); in Hawaii, "Maile Amber Alert" (in memory of Maile Gilbert); in Arkansas, "Morgan Nick Amber Alert" (in memory of Morgan Nick); in Utah, it is called "Rachael Alert" (in memory of Rachael Runyan), and "Monkey's Law" in Idaho (in memory of Michael Joseph Vaughan.)

In the United States, the alerts are distributed via commercial and public radio stations, Internet radio, satellite radio, television stations, text messages, and cable TV by the Emergency Alert System and NOAA Weather Radio (where they are termed "Amber Alerts").

The alerts are also issued via e-mail, electronic traffic-condition signs, commercial electronic billboards, or through wireless device SMS text messages.

AMBER Alert has also teamed up with Google and Facebook to relay information regarding an AMBER Alert to an ever-growing demographic: AMBER Alerts are automatically displayed if citizens search or use map features on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines.

With Google public alert (also called Google AMBER Alert in some countries), citizens see an AMBER Alert if they search for related information in a particular location where a minor has recently been abducted and an alert was issued.

This is a component of the AMBER Alert system that is already active in the US (there are also developments in Europe).

Those interested in subscribing to receive AMBER Alerts in their area via SMS messages can visit Wireless Amber Alerts, which are offered by law as free messages.

In some states, the display scrollboards in front of lottery terminals are also used.

The decision to declare an AMBER Alert is made by each police organization (in many cases, the state police or highway patrol) investigating the abduction.

Public information in an AMBER Alert usually includes the name and description of the abductee, a description of the suspected abductor, and a description and license plate number of the abductor's vehicle if available.

The alerts are broadcast using the Emergency Alert System, which had previously been used primarily for weather bulletins, civil emergencies, or national emergencies.

In Canada, alerts are broadcast via Alert Ready, a Canadian emergency warning system.

Alerts usually contain a description of the child and of the likely abductor.

To avoid both false alarms and having alerts ignored as a "wolf cry", the criteria for issuing an alert are rather strict.

Each state's or province's AMBER alert plan sets its own criteria for activation, meaning that there are differences between alerting agencies as to which incidents are considered to justify the use of the system.

However, the U.S. Department of Justice issues the following "guidance", which most states are said to "adhere closely to" (in the U.S.):

Many law enforcement agencies have not used #2 as a criterion, resulting in many parental abductions triggering an Amber Alert, where the child is not known or assumed to be at risk of serious injury or death.

In 2013, West Virginia passed Skylar's Law to eliminate #1 as a criterion for triggering an Amber Alert.

It is recommended that AMBER Alert data immediately be entered into the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Crime Information Center.

Text information describing the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the child should be entered, and the case flagged as child abduction.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police's (RCMP) requirements in Canada are nearly identical to the above list, with the exception that the RCMP is notified.

One organization might notify the other if there is reason to suspect that the border may be crossed.

When investigators believe that a child is in danger of being taken across the border to either Canada or Mexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, United States Border Patrol and the Canada Border Services Agency are notified and are expected to search every car coming through a border checkpoint.

If the child is suspected to be taken to Canada, a Canadian Amber Alert can also be issued, and a pursuit by Canadian authorities usually follows.

For incidents which do not meet AMBER Alert criteria, the United States Department of Justice developed the Child Abduction Response Teams (CART) program to assist local agencies.

This program can be used in all missing children's cases with or without an AMBER alert.

CART can also be used to help recover runaway children who are under the age of 18 and in danger.

, 225 response teams have been trained in 43 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Canada.